CDV is a chest-up view of McLaws in a medium-colored double-breasted frockcoat with full beard and wavy locks of hair.

Contrast and clarity are excellent. Mount and paper are good.

Reverse has a photographer’s imprint for E. & H.T. ANTHONY… NEW YORK. Old pencil ID at top reads “MC CLAWS.” Collector information in modern pencil at bottom.

From the collection of the late William A. Turner.

Lafayette McLaws was born January 15, 1821 in Augusta, Georgia. He graduated 48th of 56 in the West Point class of 1842. He served as an infantry officer in the Mexican War and in the Mormon troubles in Utah.

At the outbreak of the Civil War McLaws was a Captain but he resigned his commission to accept a position as Major in the Confederate Army. He quickly rose to the rank of Colonel of the 10th Georgia. By May 23rd 1862 McLaws was a Major General and was assigned to command the 1st Division of Longstreet’s Corps.

He served in the Peninsula Campaign, Antietam and Fredericksburg, where Robert E. Lee praised his defense of Marye's Heights, and at Gettysburg, where his division made successful assaults through the Peach Orchard and Wheatfield, but was unable to dislodge Union forces from Cemetery Ridge. After the Knoxville Campaign, he was court-martialed for inefficiency, though this was overturned for procedural reasons. Finally, he was sent to his native Georgia to resist Sherman's March to the Sea, but had to retreat through the Carolinas, losing many men through desertion, and is presumed to have surrendered with Joseph E. Johnston in April 1865.

McLaws remained bitter about his court-martial, especially as the charges had been filed by James Longstreet, his friend and classmate at West Point, with whom he had served for years. Although he defended Longstreet against Lost Cause proponents who blamed him for losing the war, McLaws never fully forgave Longstreet for his actions. Following the war, he was in insurance, a tax collector, and a postmaster. He died in Savannah, Georgia on July 24, 1897 and is buried there in Laurel Grove Cemetery. [ad] [ph:L]

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